Social Movements in India: A Review of Literature

Front Cover
SAGE Publications, Mar 5, 2004 - Social Science - 280 pages
Social movements primarily take the form of non-institutionalised collective political action which strive for political and/or social change. While India has witnessed many such movements over the centuries, it is only recently that scholars have begun to study them in depth. This thoroughly revised and updated version of a seminal book critically examines and reviews the literature concerning social movements in India from 1857 to the present. In the process he discusses the theoretical issues raised by various scholars while analysing major trends in different movements. In conclusion, he suggests areas for future research.

Proposing a logical classification of social movements in modern India, this book will be widely welcomed by social activists as well as by political scientists, historians and sociologists. It will also be invaluable as a text in courses on social movements.

About the author (2004)

Ghanshyam Shah is currently Fellow, Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Wassenaar, The Netherlands. During a rich and distinguished career, he has been Director of the Centre for Social Studies, Surat (1976–85 and again from 1991 to 1996); Dr Ambedkar Chair Professor at the National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie (1996–97); and Professor in Social Sciences at the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, (1997–2003). Professor Shah has taught in the Department of Public Administration at South Gujarat University; and has been a Visiting Professor at the Department of Political Science at Banaras Hindu University and at the Department of Political Science, University of Chicago, among others. He was awarded the V.K.R.V. Rao prize in Political Science Research in 1979 and 1980, and the University Grants Commission National Award in Political Science in 1998. Ghanshyam Shah has authored, co-authored or edited more than 15 books, including Social Movements and the State (2002), Dalit Identity and Politics (2001) and Public Health and Urban Development: The Study of the Surat Plague (1997).

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